Title: Athletes and Gymnasts
Author: Anderson & Low
Publisher: Twin Palms Publishers, 2002
Photographs by Jonathan Anderson and Edwin Low; 2 volumes, black and white illustrations
Published on the occasion of the celebrated exhibition of these photographs at the National Portrait Gallery in London, Athletes & Gymnasts is a beautiful collection of images of the human form in peak condition. The duo Anderson & Low have been working together since the early 1990s to produce meticulously crafted photographs in the realms of architecture, still life, nudes, and portraiture. The Athlete project draws from three separate bodies of work, spanning various competitive sporting exhibitions. It is presented in this limited edition set in conjunction with the volume on Gymnasts, which was a specially commissioned project by the National Danish Gymnastics Team to document the extraordinary seven-man handstand and grew into a complete study of the human form. The photographs are unmistakably classically influenced, an aspect that functions to highlight the graceful, dynamic, and powerful qualities of Anderson & Low’s masterful explorations of the nude human form engaged in rigorous physical activity.
